Red Bull may take grid penalty hit after 'massive qualifying blow up' for Sergio Perez

Perez at Zandvoort — Photo: © LAT Images

Dutch Grand Prix

Red Bull may take grid penalty hit after 'massive qualifying blow up' for Perez

Team could fit fourth PU of the season

Ian Parkes

Saturday 4 September 2021 18:16

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Sergio Perez has confirmed Red Bull will consider taking power unit penalties for the Dutch Grand Prix after suffering a "massive blow up" in qualifying.

After missing out on reaching Q2, Perez will start 16th on the Zandvoort grid as a consequence of failing to conjure a final hot lap in the first session due to a number of factors.

At a circuit where it is predicted to be hard to overtake and limiting the chances of Perez scoring heavily, Red Bull may take advantage and fit the Mexican's RB16B with a new power unit.

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That follows the loss of one of the three systems in the pool as a result of being hit by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas at the first corner on the opening lap of the Hungarian GP.

Asked as to the chances of fitting a fourth PU and so taking penalties, Perez replied: "We are thinking about it. We will consider the possibility."

Perez found himself "in a bit of a mess"

Explaining what unfolded in Q1 and why he missed out on improving on his time, Perez said: "A few too many things happened.

"Our cut off wasn't expecting the track evolution that we had; we probably had a little bit too much fuel on that first run.

"We were monitoring the laps from other people, and then we realised we were in a bit of a mess and we didn't manage to complete the lap.

"I think we missed out by a second and a half, something like that, which is extremely frustrating.

"I was progressing well, I was feeling more comfortable as the run was progressing and it was just a massive blow up for us."

Suggested to Perez that he appeared to have enough time on his out lap to make his final run, he said: "It was getting a bit messier with the guys I had to let through.

"I didn't know how critical it was at the time. I think we left the garage with two minutes so we had plenty of time.

"But there were people making a gap in the pitlane so a lot of factors meant we lost our lap."